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Follow the Birds
A few years ago a photographer/friend /customer started exploring the feasibility of following the migration of the endangered whooping crane from the nesting ground in south Texas to the summer home in Alberta and Northwest Territories of Canada. The plan was to follow the same route in a airplane, low and slow, to make a continuous aerial photo of the route. The plan was to do this last year but, covid and a closed border got in the way.
Friday the first of April the journey will begin. The photographer is Michael Forsberg (https://www.michaelforsberg.com/). He will be flying with Chris Boyer of Kestrel Aerial Services (https://www.kestrelaerial.com/). I will be providing ground support and camera tech. Mike and I will leave Nebraska on Friday and Chris will leave Bozeman, MT Thursday. We will meet in Rockport, TX to begin the trek north.
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My plan is to post a daily update here time permitting. I hope to meet Daryl (ghosthunters) while crossing Saskatchewan and any other camera trappers that might be close to the path.
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Looks like a great project Jeff. I look forward to following along with your updates. Good luck.
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Day One was uneventful. We drove from Lincoln to Fort Worth, had a Popeyes chicken sandwich and went to bed. Tomorrow will take us to Rockport, TX where we will meet up with Chris and his airplane. Then, the trip will start to get interesting. Good night.
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Day Two
The trip south has taken us from Nebraska late winter, early spring to 80 degrees, leaves on the trees and green everywhere.
We left Ft. Worth at about 0800 and headed south to Rockport, TX. Some time along the say we decided that we will not eat at any chain restaurants. So while driving through Hallettsville, TX Mike found a BBQ joint on the internet.
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Owned by a husband/wife team and staffed by their daughter.
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I had a half of a chicken and potato salad. Both excellent.
Then on to Rockport, TX. Here is the view from my room.
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Very close to the water and marina.
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After a couple hours, the plane and pilot arrived at the airport.
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The plane is a 1958 Cessna that the pilot has modified for aerial photography.
After a great meal at a local restaurant, we walked back to the hotel.
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The next couple days will be spent swapping cards in timelapse camera systems we installed last year around Aransas National Wildlife Refuge and doing some aerial photography. Then start the journey north to Ft. Smith, NWT.
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Day Three
Early morning brought fog and low visibility. I woke up early to watch the sunrise from a long pier close to the hotel. One look out the window and went back to bed. The fog started burning off shortly after sunrise.
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After a quick breakfast we headed to the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge to check on the three timelapse cameras we installed last year. The first on the trip was installed on a observation platform overlooking Mustang Lake and San Antonio Bay.
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It is a popular perch for vultures and other birds.
The second camera is on a elevated walkway close to the observation tower.
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All of the timelapse systems are built around the Nikon D5600 and the TRLcam timelapse controller. Power is provided by a 25 watt solar and stored in a bank of eight supercapacitors. There are no batteries in the system which makes it extremely reliable for rears of use. The intervalometer timing is set by a GPS module on the control board. The GPS data is fed into a microcontroller that calculates the exact sunrise and sunset time for that location. The controller then starts taking pictures one hour before sunrise and stops one hour after sunset. In that first and last hour, four times as many images are captured. So, if the interval is set on one hour, the camera will shoot four images before sunrise and four images after sunset. The interval is set with a series of dipswitches. Very simple and very reliable.
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The third camera is on a windmill tower a few miles from the observation platform.
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Same setup as the other two and working well.
Before leaving the refuge we took a couple side trips down a couple walking paths. It was a great day for wildlife watching.
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About 1600 it cleard up enough for a VFR flight. So, we made our way to the airport to get setup.
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The guys were in the air for about an hour and a half and had a successful trip.
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Day Four
Foggy, windy and a low ceiling. No flying today. :(
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Finally a front blew through, lowered the humidity and changed the wind to the north. The pilot and photographer had a great day in the air and accomplished most of the objectives for this area.
After landing we had some really good pizza and called it a day.
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Tomorrow morning we will load up and head north.
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Day Eight
We made it to Temple, TX last evening. We had a very strong headwind that made travel a challenge.
But it is a new day and we are headed north again.
After a quick stop at Salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge to swap cards on a couple timelapse cameras, we continued north.
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The evening found us at a small airport near Anthony, KS where we spent the night on a ranch a few miles from the airport.
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It's starting to get interesting.
BLIZZARD WARNING
ISSUED: 2:28 PM APR. 11, 2022 – NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE
...BLIZZARD WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 7 AM CDT /6 AM MDT/
TUESDAY TO 7 PM CDT /6 PM MDT/ THURSDAY...
* WHAT...Heavy snow and blizzard conditions expected. Total snow
accumulations between 12 and 24 inches, with locally higher
amounts up to 30 inches possible. Winds gusting as high as 50 mph.
* WHERE...Southwest and portions of central North Dakota.
* WHEN...From 7 AM CDT /6 AM MDT/ Tuesday to 7 PM CDT /6 PM MDT/
Thursday.
* IMPACTS...Travel will become very difficult to impossible.
Widespread blowing snow could significantly reduce visibility.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
Travel should be restricted to emergencies only. If you must travel,
have a winter survival kit with you. Notify a friend or family
member of your travel plans. If you get stranded, stay with your
vehicle. The latest road conditions can be obtained by calling 5 1 1.
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Day Seventeen
This is a recap of the last week. I am quickly finding out that I am not good at a daily blog.
Leaving Kansas, we headed to Nebraska and stayed at the Crane Trust near Grand Island. This is a property dedicated to the preservation of lands used by the whooping cranes and the sandhills cranes during their migration. They put us up for a few days in the on-site cabins while we waited for the blizzard to make it's way east across North Dakota and southern Canada. Some areas received 30+ inches of snow with winds gusting to 50+ mph. Not great flying weather for a small plane.
We left the Crane Trust on Day thirteen and ended up in Pierre, SD for a couple nights. Dinner was at a bar-grill called Mad Mary's within walking distance of the hotel.
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The Duke was there to greet us and take our order.
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Pierre is in the whooping crane flyway and while here we located a few of the birds we saw in south Texas.
After a couple days in Pierre, SD we had a one day weather window to make our way to Bismarck, ND. While here we found a few groups of whooping cranes making their way north.
Tomorrow the weather guys forecast low winds and partly cloudy sky's for our trip across the border into Canada.
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Also, photographer Michael Forsberg and pilot Chris Boyer are posting regularly on Instagram. You can find Chris at kestrelaerial and Mike at mforsbergphoto.
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Well, we all finally made it into Canada. I dropped the guys off at the airport and headed north from Bismarck to the border. Along the way I shared the lane with a wandering moose.
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Not too far out of Bismarck, the road turned to packed ice about 75% of the time and was that way to Minot, ND,
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About fifty miles south of the border I received a text from the red plane saying they had to turn around because of ice and fog. So, I stopped in a small town and had a little lunch.
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Not bad for ten bucks. I think it came with desert but there was no way after cleaning my plate.
An hour later a text from the pilot informed me the fog was breaking up and they were set to resume the flight. So, I proceeded on to the border at North Portal. There was only a couple cars in front of me at the border and when it was my turn it only took a few minutes. The lady asked for my passport, scanned it, asked me a few questions and sent me on my way. No questions about covid vaccines, guns, alcohol or anything else.
The trip from the border was uneventful. I had a little south east wind since Bismarck and made it to Saskatoon with over a quarter tank of diesel left. Installing the 52 gallon replacement tank was a great idea and allows me to run over 700 miles without filling. With diesel prices varying in price , I can fill up whenever I see prices on the lower end.
We have been in Saskatoon for a couple days now and the weather is just not cooperating. Snow and low ceiling will keep us here till it clears.
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While here we will check a couple timelapse cameras installed last year. We checked the first one yesterday. It's about sixty miles north of Saskatoon. The camera looks over a wetland stopover point for whooping cranes and other migratory birds.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBJV280DPd8
Unfortunately the camera had quit a few weeks ago. Troubleshooting revealed a failed Nikon D5600. We looked around Saskatoon for a replacement and found nothing. But we did find a Sony a6400. The camera store had the required power adapter and a remote shutter cable. After an hour in the hotel room the TL system is ready to go and will be returned in the morning.
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It looks like our next weather window is Friday. I hope it holds.
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Well, we are still Saskatoon. It looks like our next weather window will be tomorrow (Saturday). There is a chance of early AM snow and then clearing after 0900. I'll drop the guys off at the airport and start my drive to Fort Smith, NWT.
Yesterday we returned the repaired timelapse camera to the site north of Saskatoon.
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The new Sony should serve us well in that location.
After that we proceeded to another timelapse camera location south of Saskatoon to check and swap memory cards. This camera overlooks the Saskatchewan river and was running well. It hasn't missed a shot all winter.
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Today we visited the little red plane at the hangar. It looks pretty small compared to the big boys in the hangar.
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That's it for now. Hopefully my next update will be from Ft. Smith, NWT.
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I made it to Fort Smith this afternoon. The weather finally cleared up allowing us to plan a departure. I left Saskatoon yesterday after an early breakfast. Question for the Canadians out there.....At the Holiday Inn in Saskatoon the breakfast buffet included baked beans. I have never heard of baked beans as a breakfast choice. Is this common in Canada?
I drove to Peace River, Alberta for the first night and on to Fort Smith, NWT today. The plane left from Saskatoon this morning and is spending tonight in Fort McMurray. They will start the final leg in the morning and should arrive here around noon.
Here are a few pictures from todays trip.
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The next few days we will install a couple long term timelapse camera systems and then head back south.
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Day Twentysix
The Mike and Chris arrived yesterday at about 1:00 pm. They flew from Fort McMurray to Fort Smith taking pictures while flying over Wood Buffalo Park.
While waiting at the airport a few eagles provided me with a show.
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The plane arrived, was refueled, parked and tied down.
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Then it's time to get to work installing the first of the two timelapse cameras.
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This morning we installed the second timelapse camera overlooking a salt plain about twenty-five miles from town. The last six miles were by snow machine.
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This is a great spot for a timelapse camera. The capture of images over a couple years should be amazing.
That's about it for today. We have a little work to do tomorrow and then will be headed south for the three day trip back to Nebraska.
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EDIT-----Now that I am in a place with good internet I can update this post with a few images and videos.
We left Ft. Smith yesterday morning and traveled to the town of Slave Lake. We dropped off Chris at the plane and watched as he took off from Ft. smith and headed back to Montana.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xxeN2rcHu4
After about thirty minutes we received a text message from the pilot informing us that he had to turn around because of low ceiling and poor visibility. He will wait in Ft. Smith for a better weather window.
It was a great drive down hwy 88 through Alberta. Very little traffic, beautiful scenery and the weather was good. A few miles south of Hay River, NWT is a area called twin falls. The upper falls is called Alexandra Falls. Here is a short video of this amazing place.
https://youtu.be/ER6z0DrKgcU
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A large number of whooping cranes are gathered north of Saskatoon so that will be our destination this morning.
The thirty day adventure is quickly coming to and end. We should be back to Nebraska Sunday or Monday.
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We left Saskatoon early this morning watching some of the wetland areas in the flyway for whooping cranes on the way south. But, saw none. Most are making the final jump north to Wood Buffalo and the Ft. Smith area. Currently Mike and I are in Bismarck, ND. It's good to be back in the USA again. Tomorrow we will make an early departure and finish the trip in Lincoln, NE.
Earlier today we received a message from The Canadian Broadcasting Corp with a link to a article they published this morning. The reporter spent a couple hours with us on Wednesday afternoon.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north...tion-1.6436568
It's great to see the whooping crane get some much deserved attention.
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Thanks for taking us along Jeff. Great work !
